The US is considering the option of welcoming people from Hong Kong in response to China's push to impose national security legislation in the former British colony, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in remarks released on Monday.

Influential Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell told that chamber on Monday he hoped the Trump administration would soon identify specific ways to "impose costs on Beijing" for curbing freedoms in Hong Kong, and said the US should mirror the response of other democracies and open its doors to people from the territory.